Taste of Lincoln

I’ve been wanting to try Wing Street wings for some time.  We were at the mall Christmas shopping so we stopped at the Pizza Hut on 66th and O Street.

We ordered the traditional wings with medium sauce and blue cheese dressing.  My only comment on the service was I eventually got up and got ranch from the salad bar after two attempts to get my blue cheese.

As for the wings…They were cooked just like I like them.  Out of the deep fryer, not the microwave, and were temperature hot at our table.  The sauce was a bit disappointing.  The flavor was good, but there was some unnatural substance that made the sauce thicker.  At my house, I use butter to accomplish this, but Wing Street had almost a jelly like consistency to them.  To be honest it really tainted my experience and I couldn’t get past it.

Brewsky’s still rules the wing world in my opinion.

We went over to a friends house Saturday night to watch the Heisman and stopped off at the Hog Pit BBQ on 14th and Superior for some take out.

First the good:

1. Probably the best brisket I’ve had in a long time.  It was machine sliced really thin, but we got a healthy portion for around $9.
2. The side dishes.  Normally this doesn’t matter to me at a BBQ place, but this was something to call out.  We had the Mac ‘n Cheese, Baked Beans, Green Bean Casserole, Potato Salad and corn bread.  All were awesome!  The Mac ‘n Cheese was ridiculously good!!
3. The service.  The new owner was working and incredibly nice while I waited for my food.  He knew his stuff and wanted me to let him know what I thought.

My Constructive Criticism:

1. In addition to the brisket, we got a full slab of baby back ribs.  They were cooked well and cut into individual bones.  The only thing with our rack was the rub was still very grainy on the bones.  It tasted great, but we may have gotten some with a little too much rub that kind of clumped on the ribs.

Truthfully that wasn’t enough for all of us to think it was anything but great BBQ!!  Please visit this location and help support a local BBQ joint.  Please don’t disgrace Lincoln BBQ like this article did.  Paul’s is still my favorite, but as a resident of North Lincoln, the Hog Pit will see a lot of me!!

I gave Pat’s BBQ (14th and Superior) a try tonight after seeing the review in the Lincoln Journal Star last week.  It also doesn’t hurt that I live on that side of town, so it was an impuse stop on my way home from work tonight.  I heard an ad for their Buffalo Wings on ESPN 1480 so I stopped in just to get that as an appitizer.  When I got home, my family was in need of a night out, so we returned to the same place to get a full dinner.

Instead of getting separate meals, we opted for the sharing route.  I got the two meat platter (with Pulled Pork and Chicken).  My wife got the special, which was a Philly Cheese steak and a side.  The kids split the corn dog meal.

The Good:

• Everything chicken.  Although they were not able to beat out Brewsky’s, they are a great tasting wing.  They could have had a bit more spice, but there was nothing wrong with the mild.
• Also, the chicken in my two meat combo was cooked perfectly.  As part of a KCBS judging procedure, I tasted the skin to get a true taste of the seasoning.
• The service was slow and a little confused by the menu, but they were very sincere in making sure we had a good experience.

Constructive Criticism:

• The pulled pork was not up to par.  It was extremely salty and mushy.  When we judge competition BBQ, mushy pork is an indication of overcooking.
• I try not to rate side dishes, but my fries were stone cold and my wife’s were burning hot.  I’m sure that will be fixed.

Overall, I really really wanted this to be excellent.  It was good, but it may be one of those times where over time it will find it’s groove.  I’m just glad we have a local option on the north side.  I will be back, and to me that is a great indication of a winner.